Confucius said that “The man (women) who chases two rabbits catches neither.”

And it couldn’t be truer in online business.

At least to start with.

There’re so many shiny objections out there.

So many gurus telling you…you need a funnel, you need to be on Instagram or Pinterest.

And yes you’ve heard it said….you should be hosting webinars 🙂 I love them.

But the truth is…we need to find what works for us and stay there for a while.

Don’t start out trying to be everywhere or you will be nowhere well (and overwhelmed).

Jon Schumacher says he spends all his time on email, Facebook, summits, and webinars. That’s it.

Jon goes on to say for the rest of this post: Sure I have dabbled over the years but those are my core places of focus.

They are where my tribe is and my potential customers.

I ignore everything else completely. No Snapchat, no IG, no Twitter, no LinkedIn.

Should I be on those platforms?

Probably so…

But as a solopreneur with no content marketing team, if I tried to be on all those platforms at a professional level, I would be worn out and pissed off 24/7.

I would have no time to be creative and think big picture.

I would be stuck in my to-do list every single moment.

Not fun and not the best use of time.

The vast majority of you are just getting started….

So where should you focus?

Here are the basics I would recommend if you are brand new and looking to launch a new group coaching program or online course (which I recommend as your leveraged core offer).

1) Decide who you are going to create your program for. Are you a health and wellness coach for busy executives? Are you a dating coach for women over 40? Get on the phone with a few people in your ideal market and ask them….What is your single biggest challenge with [Your Niche]. Post in and search Facebook groups. Private message a few people on Facebook and ask them the same question. Find 3-5 key challenges you can address.

2) Create a framework to use for your program. Take the 3-5 challenges you found in your research, open a Google document, and create an outline of your new program. If you struggle with this, go to Amazon and search for books on your topic. Look in the previews of the table of contents for inspiration. Create your framework that you will teach.

3) Set up a simple form of taking payment. If you are on a budget, sign up for paypal.me. Paypal will provide you with a link you can use for free to take payments.

4) Sell your thing as a pilot. If you are launching a new online group coaching program or course, the ONLY thing you need to focus on is VALIDATING your idea. Not your website. Not your business cards. Not your branding. Your idea. Will it sell or not? I recommend selling access to your program at a pilot price (discount) of what the normal price will be. At this point, we have only a framework with that we are going to teach. We are not building the program yet. Reach back out to those who you talked to earlier and see if they are interested in joining the pilot. Take payment for those who join. Create a Facebook group to place them in to communicate with them. Add them to a free list on MailChimp or some other email service provider.

5) Conduct your group coaching or course live via webinar. For a new core offer, I like the low risk, high-feedback environment of doing it live first. Let’s say, three 90-minute webinars teaching the content. Don’t over do the length. You can use Zoom.us for $15/month to host the group sessions. You can record the sessions and place them in the Facebook group. You can even create an on-demand version of your program from the recordings to start with. After you teach your first class, you get feedback, you have validated your idea, and you can now spend some time polishing.

I have used this model several times with my own programs and with clients.

Focusing on the key steps is what matters most at each stage of your online journey.

The 80/20 rule tells us this.

The above stated steps are what I would call the 80/20 of the Validate Phase.

For all of you just getting started with your courses and webinars, this is a good model to follow.

I want to hear from you (and yes I will reply in a reasonable time).

I want you to comment below with step one “Who you are going to create your program for?”

Or who you have created your program for?

Be detailed.

This exercise alone can create major clarity and breakthroughs for your business.